FISC: Packaging is vital – but how do we address plastic waste?

Monday, 16 March 2026

Packaging is a major part of everyday life used to wrap, protect, preserve, transport, inform and sell items for distribution, storage, use and sale. It is integrated into every sector worldwide and in the UK the packaging industry is worth an estimated £47bn.

Made by the foundational industries from everything from card, paper, metal, glass and chemicals, packaging accounts for large volumes of waste with plastic being the worst offender.

Around 140m tonnes of plastic packaging are created each year yet globally only 15 per cent is recycled. Plastic is everywhere and global plastic pollution is forecast to double by 2040. Accounting for around 5 per cent of global carbon emissions, plastic contributes to emissions during both its production from fossil fuels and again at end of life.

The circular economy challenge
And while brands and manufacturers have committed to ambitious carbon reduction targets and face newly phased in legal requirements under Extender-Producer-Responsibility (EPR), packaging still remains challenging from a circular economy perspective.

Earlier this year global talks in UN negotiations to develop a landmark treaty to end plastic pollution failed with around 100 nations backing calls for production limits and oil states pushing instead on a focus on recycling.

Flexible packaging, the fastest growing type of plastic packaging, prized for its strong functional properties and low weight does offer benefits such as lower energy consumption during manufacturing and transportation.

This results in reduced greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on fossil fuels but doesn’t address the issue of plastic waste pollution. Effective recycling after use is the only way to reduce the environmental impact and create a truly circular economy.

Less than half of all plastic is recycled with materials like card, paper, metal, and glass recording much higher recycling rates.

Last month more than 110 organisations within Europe’s plastics value chain warned EU policymakers that the continent’s recycling industry is failing to cope.

Citing challenges such as the widening gap between virgin and recycled plastic prices, recycling plants closing due to high energy and labour costs, the low cost of plastic from Asia and loopholes in UK legislation that means plastic waste collectors are incentivised to export plastic waste rather than recycle it.

So, what can be done to increase plastic recycling and close the loop on a circular economy?

With the government’s ‘Circular Economy Strategy’ now due to be unveiled in 2026 and called the ‘Circular Economy Growth Plan’ the Circular Economy Taskforce has identified five priority sectors of which two are chemicals and plastics.

The Plan is likely to call for key strategies such as industrial symbiosis – reusing waste by-products, recycling and reuse, design for circularity and innovation and technology.

Talking to brands, manufacturers, and the value chain many have taken steps to reduce emissions during manufacture but bi-products and the whole life cycle of products remain a significant challenge across the foundational industries.

There is first the question of using the right material for the right use. Plastic is too often the go-to material when materials such as glass can be a more circular solution.

But as The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently published in their 2030 Plastic Agenda for Business launched this month, the focus needs to shift from individual action to market transformation.

Like the 20 per cent of the plastic packaging sector including the likes of SC Johnson and Unilever, which have already signed up to the agenda, organisations have taken steps to become more sustainable.

What we need now is not only for the other 80 per cent to engage further but for global, widespread transformation across the plastic industry led by collective action.

FISC works to unite manufacturers, brands, and government to scale reusable, low-carbon packaging solutions by tackling emissions, risk, and policy gaps together.

The time for individual steps by organisations is long gone and many have reached the limit of what they can control on their own.

As stated in the agenda, we need to tackle the barriers to reducing emissions and creating circular economies whilst pushing for effective regulations.

Addressing the plastics recycling issue is a whole other piece by itself but by taking a collective view across the foundational industries, the UK and worldwide we can push for positive regulations such as harmonised global packaging regulations.

We can share R&D efforts to reduce costs, risk, and time. And more importantly, as in our focus in FISC and through FIVe we can bring forward material innovations that are commercialised quickly and ready for adoption at scale.

Plastic looks likely to remain a mainstream ingredient in many future products but if we can work across the full value chain on material innovation and use, advanced recycling, and improved end-of-life management we might be able to create those elusive circular economies.

Visit FISC at The Advanced Materials Show on stand 626.